Method of and machine for making wire-glass.



R. A. .1; WALSH. METHOD OF AND MACHINE FOR MAKING WIRE GLASS.-

APPLIGATION FILED DEC. 2, 1907.

Patented Nov. 23. 1909.

To mama-ma abatem- 1o" to the accompanying drawings, forming part STATESPATENT OFFICE.

' 30131131 A. ,B. WALSH, on ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

nnrnonor ann MACHINE non MAKmG'wInE-eLAss.

Be it known that I, ROBERT A. B. WALSH, a citizenj of'the United States,residing at StLQpisfiMiss'ouri, have invented a certainnew-anduseful-Improvement in Methods of and :"-Machines for Making Wire-Glass,of which-thefollowing is a full, clear, and ex- A ,actj description,such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains tomakeanduse the same, reference being had of this specification, inwh1ch- Figures 1, 2, 3 and .4 are side elevations of different forms ofapparatus which may be used-fin practicing my invention; and Fig. 5 "isa conventionalillustration of the embedding roller.

- This invention relates to .a new and use- ;ful method of, and amachine for making :wire, glass, and particularly wire glass in which a"plurality of layers are employed to .form theultimate sheet.

-The object of my invention is to produce asheet. 'of wire glass havingsmooth brilliant slui'faces,1the wireof said sheet retaining its-or1ginal, bright and newjap earance after it has-been embeddedin the gass.

-- In the manufacture'of Wire glass, the tend f 'eiicyof the wire is tocontract and draw 30."

t-helass so a'sfto produce an uneven or an irregularsurfaceij It hasbeenproposed, see for [illustration the patent to Walsh, No. 610,593, datedSeptember 13, 1898, to cure these irregularities by smoothing them downby a finishing roller; but this cannot always he successfullyaccomplished, because, w hile the-[finishing roller acts-upon theelevations, it' will not perfectly transfer the surplus glass to thedepressions and make a perfect the wire mesh into the top surface of afirst formed sheet or glass thereover.

better and smoother finish to the top sur= face of the sheet than theWalsh method: both of these methods, of its exposure to at-. heated,loses itsbright first-mentioned. In

the wire, on account mosphere after being and new appearance and looksblack in the weld between the two layersoccurs principally in the planeof the wire and as the 1 Specification of Letterslatent.

weld. It has .alsobeen proposed, see i for illustration the Schmertz'reissue patent 1 dated January 30, 1906, to press layer of glass andthen,

spread a finishing layeror sheet of molten This method produces aSchmertz method the I tion is sometimes observed] on the surface of thesecond layer.

templates the method of and an apparatus for forming wire glass,said'method consisting inffirst forminga bottom layer or sheet of glassand thereafter forming "a second sheet or layer of glass having a wiremesh buried therein -and welding it to the upper surface of thefirst-formed layer. Preferably,

neath' surface of the secondsheet 'or layer at the time said sheet isbeing formed so that in itsheated condition the wire mesh;

'c'ordingly, will preserveits' bright and new appearancein the gl'ass.

ited to a single type of machine butmay be embodied in different forms.of apparatus. I have shown severalof these forms in the accompanyingdrawings andwilLfirst refer to that shown in. Fig.1 which comprises atablel having a smooth-surface roller 2 arranged above the upper surfacethereof at-a distance equal to the thickness of the bottom layer 3. Asmooth-surface rollerv i is arranged above the table 1 a distance equalto thethickness of the'finished product, and an embedding'roller 5cooperates with the roller at to form a top layer or sheet 6 and. bury awire mesh therein, the rollert cooperating with the table 1 to twolayers 3 and 6 together. In practicing my invention with scription amass of molten glass7 is dumped onto the table adjacent the roller .2and said table'is then moved in the direction of i the arrowto cause theroller 2 to form said mass of molten glass into a bottom layer 3. ylVhenthe endof said bottom layer or sheet reaches the rollers 4 and 5 a massof molten glass 8 is poured between said rollers which form said massintofa top layer Shaving a face thereof. The" layer 6 ;falls onto. the

welded thereto bythe smooth-surface roller 45.. g From the foregoingitwill be seen that two separate masses of molten glass are formedprogressively into two ndependent. layers which are combined togetherto" pro"- I Patented Nov..23, 1909. 1 Application filed December a,1907; serial No.'404,846.

wire is at places left free to draw this acwillnot be exposed toatmosphere and, ac-:

It is obvious that my invention is not lim-;

combine the apparatus of this-de-f Briefly stated, my present inventioncolithe wire mesh'is embedded in the under I wire mesh- 9 buried in theunderneath SLIP-"- upper surface of the bottom layerand is H duce asingle sheet; ,Tlieroller'f), due to the,

embedding. blades thereon, I will; force the;

' mesh and becoming-Q thoroughlyIv welded "thereto.

and thus be prevented from oxidizing as gether to form a single sheet.Instead of and smooth-surface roller 2f can cooperate It will beobserved f from the foregoing .that- -a' complete sheet of wireglass-'1's, formed; to wit, a sheet or, layer of glass-hav layer filling inthe spaces in the. undetneath that the embedding ro1ler'5 isprovidedwith fedge sothat have, the-lease wire mesh below the underneathsurface of the top layer'G simultaneously with the operation of formingsaid layer so that said wire mesh will becompletely covered by glasswould be apt to occur if it were exposed to the airwhile in its heated;condition'. AL- though I have previously sttrtedtthatths, table is-moved longitudinally itjwilLf-of, course, be understood thatthis-table'cou'ld be stationary and the rollers moved longitudinallythereof without departing from the spirit of my invention. v i i In Fig.2 I have shownanot-herform'ofapparatus which can be used for practicingmy method. This apparatus comprises. two smooth-surface'rol-lers 2 and 2for forming the bottom layer I or sheet, an embedding roller 5 and asmooth-surface roller 5 for. forming thetop layer having a wire meshburied in the underneath surface thereof, and a smooth-surface roller 4for combining thetop and bottom layersjtogether to form a single sheetof wire glass. 4

In Fig. 3 I have shown still another form of apparatus which canbe used"for practicing mymethod. This apparatusconsists of two smooth-surfacerollers 12 and 13 spaced apart a distance equal 'to the'thickness of thefinished product, a smooth-surface roller"? cooperating with the roller13 to form the bottom layer, and an embedding roller '5 cooperating withthe .rollerl2 to form the top layer and 'bury the. wire mesh in theunderneath surface thereof, therollers' '12 and 13 also operating tocombine the two layers to having theembedding roller- 5 cooperate withthe roller 12 to form the top layer-"b and-embed the wire meslrin theunderneath surface "thereof, and the smooth {surface roller'2cooperate'. with theroller I3Fto form 1 the bottom layer, isaidembeddingroller 5 with supplemental smooth-surfacerollers 5 and 2 ,]as intheapparatus. shown in F ig. 4, and the-two rollers 12 and 13 be used sim--ply to combine the two layers together.

ing wire'buried'zbeneath its under surface, and an independentlayeriofglassy-isfthen formed and combined with the layer which K containsthe wire mesh, .said'inde'pendent- Surface ofthelayerwhich contains thewire By referring to Fig. 5 be. notedembedding blades whicharepreferably .made thin, deep and tapering to "*gknife amount of surfaceeontaetgewith the wire its mem- 1 surface of the layer of glass. I

I claim as ters' Patent is: .o

scribed, comprising means for forming "a ,sheetof: glass, means forburying wire be? neath the: under surface of said sheet, 1 and .;lmea-ns"for forming another sheet .or layer of glass welding it totheuneven-junder- "H ath of the sheet. first referred .to

fee k q a wirefmesli through the underneath surface ther of sothatit'i's completely covered and.

bedded. These embedding-blades are also. spaced as far apart aspracticable and yet. sufiiciently close. together so that they willunifori'nlybury the Wire mesh beneath the rom the above it will,be'poted that the embedding roller which I propose to use is not a.corrugated-roller in the sense that said term 1s usuallyjunderstoodill-this art, spar ,tic'ularly with res "ect to'the manufacture of; .l'.I

wash-boardlgass. ordinaryf-corrw gated roller, that -is," one;who'se{contour is in the shape "of a sinusoidal curve and whic'h is used tomake glass platesfonuse'in wasln. "boar-( is would .not answer thepurpose of an embedding roller -to"perform the functions of an embeddingroller illustrated .i I1: -F ig.i I for the-reason that the}corrugations as; a; generalrule are too =cl0se--.together. re

' sent too large: an area --for surface"contact with the wire,-

consequence w of which the: wire would not be embedded l or buried beneath' thesurface, but would merely'joecupy a position whereit would beexpo l tween theprotuberanoesformed by suchcorrugated roller. Theexposure of theEwire-td the" atmosphere after: the, wire -is heated "bycontact with the glass, is what -'I. "seekto avoid. "Theoonipleteburying of thewire': beneath the 7 undersurface of the top. layer orsheet is what Iseek to do, and'thi'sishdone by theemb'eddi'ng-blades ofthe-roller 5-;

By reference to Fig. 5'it will be seen-that the glass does not entirelyfill the spaces-be} v tween the'embedd'ing blades and'thus'th-ere areleft on the underneath surface eat .the

top layer. 'or'sheet, soft orflunchilled protrusions, which have notbeenin] contact with the metal'o'f the embedding roller, and whichinsurea' strong weld between the'two layers;

,Having thus described myinventiomwhat I newand desire to secure by Letran apparatus -of the character de' j described.

ribed,

apparat 's g of i the character. de-

omprising-i neans' for forming a glass and simultaneously forcing a 'ansfor forming 'aiselcond Sheet or iayer :of glass and. weldmgjit to'theunderneath surface of the sheetfirstwreferred to; sub-v stantially as.described-.1

125 3. Au apparatus of the character described, comprising nieal ls forforming a layer of glass and embed fg-a wire'mesh rough tli'e-jwderncathiis reiacetthereof so;

1t"' is ,;;com p 1etely catered; fof'i'tm forming a second layerofglass, and means for combining said layers together; substantially asdescribed.

4. An apparatus of the character described, comprising an embeddingroller and cooperating means for vforming a layer of glass and forcing awire mesh through the underneath surface thereof so that it iscompletely covered, a pair of rolls for forming a second layer of glass,and means for Welding said second layer to the underneath surface of thelayer in which the wire mesh is embedded; substantially as described.

5. The method of making ire glass yvhich consists in forming a mass ofmolten glass into a layer, forcing a ire mesh into the underneathsurface of said layer so that it is completely covered, forming aseparate mass of molten glass into a layer and combining said layerstogether; substantially as described. v

6. The method of making wire glass which consists in rolling a mass ofmolten glass into alayer or'sheet and simultaneously embedding a Wiremesh in theunderneath surface of said sheet so that it is completelycovered, rolling' an independent mass of molten glass into asecondlayer, and thereafter combining said layers together to form a singlesheet; substantially as described.

In testimony whereof 'I hereunto affix my (signature in the presence oftwo Witnesses,

this twenty sixth day of November 1907.v

' ROBERT A B. WALSH.

Witnesses: I

F. R. CORNWALL," GEORGE: BAKEWELL.

